FEBRUARY - PREPARE, PLANT and HARVEST
TIME TO HARVEST...
Regularly harvest quick producing crops.
Courgettes, cucumbers, gherkins, beans, peas all need checking and picking on a daily basis. This will keep your veges young and sweet and stop them getting too big! It will also encourage plants to keep on producing for many more weeks.
As the summer crops are harvested dig over the soil, adding in compost and a dressing of lime, in preparation for winter crops.
Finish picking stone and pip fruit, and then lightly prune fruit trees on a dry day, removing any overcrowded branches to let more light in. By post-harvest pruning, it reduces the risk of disease in many Summer fruits. Keep tools clean by wiping them with meths or vinegar after pruning each tree.
TIME TO PLANT...
Two good months of growth still to come - plant Lettuces regularly, feed Herbs (herbs need regular picking to stimulate new production).
As the summer crops are harvested dig over the soil, adding in compost and a dressing of lime, in preparation for winter crops.
Plant Winter vegetables as soon as possible to get good crops in Winter when growth pretty much stops – broccoli, savoy cabbages, silverbeet, brussel sprouts, leeks.
TIME TO SOW...
Beetroot, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots,cauliflower, celery, leeks, lettuces, parsnip, radish, silverbeet, spinach and swedes.
TIME TO FEED
With Summer being in full swing, your garden will be extra thirsty. Water early morning or early evening to reduce evaporation.
Give your edibles a 'pick me up' with a Daltons Liquid Seaweed feed once a week to promote and extend production, along with helping them keep pest and diseases at bay.
Citrus are gross feeders and a feed of citrus food while greatly benefit them. Apply out as far as the drip line and water well. If you are growing citrus in pots, use a slow / controlled release fertliser.
Tomatoes
Feed regularly with a specifically-formulated tomato food.
We suggest a spray of FreeFlo Copper to prevent blight andYates Mavrik to take care of caterpillars, white fly etc. Feed regularly with a specifically-formulated Tomato Food.
Time to control
Whiteflies
In this drier period whiteflies thrive. They have become a lot more prevalent in recent years.
Whiteflies can cause plants to wilt, leave to turn yellow, uneven ripening in tomatoes and where there are heavy infestations - plant death.
Like many sap-sucking insects, they secrete honeydew which then goes on to create. sooty mould.
Powdery Mildew
If you have powdery mildew on courgettes, cucumbers and pumpkins, this can be controlled with FreeFlo Copper or Super Sulphur one of the new environmentally friendly products used to control plant disorders.
Sowing seeds is an economical and fun way to start off your winter vege garden. You can now sow the following seeds - beetroot, carrots, parsnips, spring onion, and silver beet. Sow carrots and parsnips directly into the ground and thin as the leaves emerge. Other seeds can be sown in seed trays and planted out into the garden as young seedlings.
Snails and Slugs
Slugs and snails love the lettuces as they provide shade, damp, and plenty of food. Quash or Blitzem will take care of the problem.
White butterflies
Use bug netting or Organic De-Bug to protect brassica crops from white butterflies.